But how many of us stop ourselves from going to town because they don't want to fork out parking change?
I personally go to town because I want something from a certain shop. If I'm parking up and walking around, paying a few dollars' parking isn't going to put me off.
I also don't think a lack of parks in our city is a problem. Sometimes you have to drive around the block a few times, but mostly you get a park reasonably close.
My fear is central city workers will take the mickey out of the council's goodwill and park their cars all day in town, rather than on the outskirts and walk a few blocks to the office.
But let's not rubbish the trial just yet.
Our city centre is looking emptier by the day and anything that will encourage more shoppers to help our struggling businesses has got to be applauded.
Let's give the trial a shot.
There's time between now and the full council meeting to make a few tweaks. Put a time limit on the free parking (for instance two or three hours) to stop workers using them and look at extending the trial throughout Mondays in December also.
That way the council can really gauge if more Christmas shoppers are coming into the city centre in December because of free carparks.
What do you think?
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